The invention relates to a centrifuge having a centrifuge drum, a centrifuge housing, a solids chamber adjacent to the centrifuge drum and containing a gaseous medium, the said chamber being separated from the environment of the centrifuge by the walls of the centrifuge housing, and having an outlet pipe for a flow of solids from the solids chamber.
A pusher centrifuge is known from British Pat. No. 926,565 wherein the solids leaving the centrifuge drum are caught in an annular channel surrounding the end of the centrifuge drum. The solids flowing along the wall of the channel leave this channel as a directed stream of solids through an opening in the base of the channel. This stream of solids reaches a conveyor belt or a pipe or else flows directly into a storage chamber. In all these embodiments, the solids chamber of the centrifuge communicates with the environment of the centrifuge.
However, if the nature of the material to be centrifuged is such that it is essential to keep the solids chamber of the centrifuge separate from the environment of the centrifuge, the solids have to be removed from the solids chamber through an outlet pipe passing in leaktight manner through the wall of the centrifuge housing.